Hitchcock was a marvellous comedy director as he proved time and time again – although he rarely made outright comedies. This was one of them, a sort of rom com about a widowed farmer looking for a new wife. Hitchcock’s light touch is spot on and his talent is evident throughout – it’s beautifully filmed, full of interesting angles and techniques (tracking shots, close ups, etc).
Unfortunately the story isn’t much. The farmer is a pompous middle aged idiot (Jameson Thomas), not good looking or charismatic or even funny, just prosperous; his wife is barely dead and he runs around looking for a wife, getting knocked back by four different women, even though they are batty, fat, ugly, etc. He finally realised his devoted house keeper (the pretty likeable Lillian Hall Davis) loves him and hooks up with her – are we supposed to be happy about that? That is pretty girl winds up with a middle aged loser? Also its frustrating to see him get knocked back all the time without much variation – true the girls change their mind towards the end but by then you’re unlikely to care. The acting is fine – good treatment of a not very inspiring story.
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